D-Day: What it means to us

Today's June 6, 2011. My wife's sick and I'm beginning to feel sick, too. It must be the weather. Still, I'm grateful today's June 6.

June 6, 1944 - For some of us not acquainted with world history, the day is actually called D-Day. The moment allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France to reclaim 'Fortress Europe' from the Nazis.

You may not realize it, but June 6 means a lot to every freedom-loving citizen of the world. The tide of war was turned on that date.

So now, let's get a little bit creative and dive several fathoms deep into June 6.
Instead of looking at what happened as a result of D-Day on June 6, let's try to imagine what would have happened if D-Day did not take place.

1. Every time there's a FIFA World Cup, Europe will only cheer for Deutschland.
2. On eBay, you'll never find a piece of the historic Berlin Wall for $34.99 simply because there never would have been a wall dividing East and West Berlin.
3. BBC would have been changed to GBC (Goebbels Broadcasting Corporation).
4. When you see a picture of a beautiful white flower found up in the Alps, you'd still call it "Edelweiss". Only now, with the correct pronunciation.
5. April 20 can't be celebrated as your Lolo's birthday or your wedding day. It can only be The Fuhrer's birthday.
6. China, Vietnam, The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei won't clamor about who really owns the Spratley islands. It belongs to The Third Reich.
7. NASA wouldn't have been able to reach the moon. Or maybe they would have been able to, but it would have been decades later.
8. Volkswagen would be really cheap. It's the people's car, afterall.
9. Mongol would be banned in The Philippines. We can only use Staedtler.
10. Philippines would have been repopulated with Aryans. That means I would have blue eyes and blond hair. Sorry Richard Gomez.
11. I won't be able to write this blog. No. I think I'd still write this blog. I'd be the Hans Scholl of the 21st Century. Wahaha. (Hans and Sophie Scholl were siblings who were executed because they spoke out against the Nazis. Even though they were also Germans.)
12. Anne Frank, the first-ever blogger, wouldn't have been popular.
13. Tom Hanks did not star in "Saving Private Ryan". Instead, Hans Schulz starred in "Saving SS-Obersturmbannführer Peiper".
14. There would have been more Auschwitz-es and Bergen-Belsens and Sobibors. (These are some of the more infamous death camps.)
15. Life would have been TOTALLY different.

Of course, everything I wrote on the list here is just speculative. But it gives you an idea of what life would have been like.

I hate what the Nazis did and there's no justification for the crimes they performed back then. Of course, the Germany of today is a lot different.

Anyway, as a student of history, I can say that we owe a lot of the freedom we enjoy today to the brave souls (the Americans, British, Canadians, Poles, the resistance fighters in the occupied countries) who gave their lives so we might live ours differently.

And let us not forget that, on the other side of the ocean, our very own Filipino soldiers also fought bravely against overwhelming odds (Please somebody sponsor me a trip to Corregidor).

So remember them today, June 6, and uphold the ideals of life and liberty for which they lived and died.

Meanwhile, I hope this blog post encouraged you to study history a bit more. =) It's very interesting and not really boring, as many would think.

Happy D-Day!